Touch-sensitive display method and apparatus

ABSTRACT

An example method includes displaying information in a first area of a touch-sensitive display of an electronic device and displaying an enlargement of at least part of the information in a second area outside the first area to replace information displayed in the second area. The method may also include detecting a touch associated with the second area and moving at least one of a first indicator in the first area and a second indicator in the second area in accordance with a touch.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This patent application claims priority to U.S. Provisional PatentApplication No. 61/557,873, filed on Nov. 9, 2011, titled“TOUCH-SENSITIVE DISPLAY METHOD AND APPARATUS,” which is herebyincorporated herein by reference in its entirety. This patentapplication is related to U.S. application Ser. No. ______ (Atty DocketNo. 40860-US-PAT), titled “TOUCH-SENSITIVE DISPLAY METHOD ANDAPPARATUS,” U.S. application Ser. No. ______ (Atty Docket No.42487-US-PAT), titled “TOUCH-SENSITIVE DISPLAY METHOD AND APPARATUS,”and U.S. application Ser. No. ______ (Atty Docket No. 42417-US-PAT),titled “TOUCH-SENSITIVE DISPLAY METHOD AND APPARATUS.”

FIELD OF TECHNOLOGY

The present disclosure relates to electronic devices, including but notlimited to, portable electronic devices having touch-sensitive displaysand their control.

BACKGROUND

Electronic devices, including portable electronic devices, have gainedwidespread use and may provide a variety of functions including, forexample, telephonic, electronic messaging and other personal informationmanager (PIM) application functions. Portable electronic devicesinclude, for example, several types of mobile stations such as simplecellular telephones, smart phones, wireless personal digital assistants(PDAs), and laptop computers with wireless 802.11 or Bluetoothcapabilities.

Portable electronic devices such as PDAs or smart telephones aregenerally intended for handheld use and ease of portability. Smallerdevices are generally desirable for portability. A touch-sensitivedisplay, also known as a touchscreen display, is particularly useful onhandheld devices, which are small and have limited space for user inputand output. The information displayed on the touch-sensitive displaysmay be modified depending on the functions and operations beingperformed. With continued demand for decreased size of portableelectronic devices, touch-sensitive displays continue to decrease insize.

Improvements in devices with touch-sensitive displays are desirable.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a portable electronic device in accordancewith the disclosure.

FIG. 2, FIG. 3, FIG. 4, FIG. 5, FIG. 7, FIG. 8, FIG. 12, FIG. 13, andFIG. 14 illustrate examples of displaying touch-sensitive controls on anelectronic device in accordance with the disclosure.

FIG. 10 illustrates an example of touch-sensitive controls on anelectronic device in accordance with the disclosure.

FIG. 6, FIG. 9, and FIG. 11 are flowcharts illustrating methods oftouch-sensitive control on an electronic device in accordance with thedisclosure.

FIG. 15 is a flowchart illustrating a method of displaying anenlargement of information on an electronic device in accordance withthe disclosure.

FIG. 16 and FIG. 19 illustrate examples of invoking an enlargement on anelectronic device in accordance with the disclosure.

FIG. 17 illustrates an example of moving an indicator throughinformation on an electronic device in accordance with the disclosure.

FIG. 18 illustrates an example of highlighting of information on anelectronic device in accordance with the disclosure.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The following describes an apparatus for and method of touch-sensitivecontrol on a touch-sensitive display. The apparatus may be an electronicdevice. The electronic device displays information and at least twocontrols on the touch-sensitive display. Touch associated with thecontrols, results in moving an indicator through the information in atleast a first direction and a second direction. The controls do not movewith the movement of the indicator. In another example, the electronicdevice detects at least two touches on the touch-sensitive display thatoverlap at least partially in time. When the electronic device detectsrelease of one of the touches, an editing control is displayed on thetouch-sensitive display. When the electronic device detects release ofthe other of the touches, a virtual keyboard is displayed to replace thedisplay of the editing control.

The following describes a method and apparatus to control an electronicdevice. The apparatus may be a portable electronic device that includesa touch-sensitive display. The electronic device displays informationand, for example, a virtual keyboard on the touch-sensitive display. Inresponse to an invocation, the electronic device displays an enlargementof at least part of the information to replace at least part of theinformation displayed, such as a virtual keyboard. The electronic devicemoves an indicator in the enlargement in response to detecting a touchon the touch-sensitive display.

For simplicity and clarity of illustration, reference numerals may berepeated among the figures to indicate corresponding or analogouselements. Numerous details are set forth to provide an understanding ofthe examples described herein. The examples may be practiced withoutthese details. In other instances, well-known methods, procedures, andcomponents are not described in detail to avoid obscuring the examplesdescribed. The description is not to be considered as limited to thescope of the examples described herein.

The disclosure generally relates to an electronic device, such as aportable electronic device or non-portable electronic device. Examplesof portable electronic devices include mobile, or handheld, wirelesscommunication devices such as pagers, cellular phones, cellularsmart-phones, wireless organizers, personal digital assistants,wirelessly enabled notebook computers, tablet computers, mobile internetdevices, and so forth. The portable electronic device may be a portableelectronic device without wireless communication capabilities, such ashandheld electronic games, digital photograph albums, digital cameras,media players, e-book readers, and so forth. Examples of non portableelectronic devices include desktop computers, electronic white boards,smart boards utilized for collaboration, built-in monitors or displaysin furniture or appliances, and so forth.

A block diagram of an example of a portable electronic device 100 isshown in FIG. 1. The portable electronic device 100 includes multiplecomponents, such as a processor 102 that controls the overall operationof the portable electronic device 100. Communication functions,including data and voice communications, are performed through acommunication subsystem 104. Data received by the portable electronicdevice 100 is decompressed and decrypted by a decoder 106. Thecommunication subsystem 104 receives messages from and sends messages toa wireless network 150. The wireless network 150 may be any type ofwireless network, including, but not limited to, data wireless networks,voice wireless networks, and networks that support both voice and datacommunications. A power source 142, such as one or more rechargeablebatteries or a port to an external power supply, powers the portableelectronic device 100.

The processor 102 interacts with other components, such as Random AccessMemory (RAM) 108, memory 110, a display 112 with a touch-sensitiveoverlay 114 operably coupled to an electronic controller 116 thattogether comprise a touch-sensitive display 118, one or more actuators120, one or more force sensors 122, an auxiliary input/output (I/O)subsystem 124, a data port 126, a speaker 128, a microphone 130,short-range communications 132, and other device subsystems 134. Inputvia a graphical user interface is provided via the touch-sensitiveoverlay 114. The processor 102 interacts with the touch-sensitiveoverlay 114 via the electronic controller 116. Information, such astext, characters including spaces, symbols, images, icons, and otheritems that may be displayed or rendered on a portable electronic device,is displayed on the touch-sensitive display 118 via the processor 102.The processor 102 may interact with an accelerometer 136 that may beutilized to detect direction of gravitational forces or gravity-inducedreaction forces.

To identify a subscriber for network access, the portable electronicdevice 100 may utilize a Subscriber Identity Module or a Removable UserIdentity Module (SIM/RUIM) card 138 for communication with a network,such as the wireless network 150. Alternatively, user identificationinformation may be programmed into memory 110.

The portable electronic device 100 includes an operating system 146 andsoftware programs, applications, or components 148 that are executed bythe processor 102 and are typically stored in a persistent, updatablestore such as the memory 110. Additional applications or programs may beloaded onto the portable electronic device 100 through the wirelessnetwork 150, the auxiliary I/O subsystem 124, the data port 126, theshort-range communications subsystem 132, or any other suitablesubsystem 134.

A received signal such as a text message, an e-mail message, or web pagedownload is processed by the communication subsystem 104 and input tothe processor 102. The processor 102 processes the received signal foroutput to the display 112 and/or to the auxiliary I/O subsystem 124. Asubscriber may generate data items, for example e-mail messages, whichmay be transmitted over the wireless network 150 through thecommunication subsystem 104. For voice communications, the overalloperation of the portable electronic device 100 is similar. The speaker128 outputs audible information converted from electrical signals, andthe microphone 130 converts audible information into electrical signalsfor processing.

The touch-sensitive display 118 may be any suitable touch-sensitivedisplay, such as a capacitive, resistive, infrared, surface acousticwave (SAW) touch-sensitive display, strain gauge, optical imaging,dispersive signal technology, acoustic pulse recognition, and so forth,as known in the art. A capacitive touch-sensitive display includes acapacitive touch-sensitive overlay 114. The overlay 114 may be anassembly of multiple layers in a stack including, for example, asubstrate, a ground shield layer, a barrier layer, one or morecapacitive touch sensor layers separated by a substrate or otherbarrier, and a cover. The capacitive touch sensor layers may compriseany suitable material, such as indium tin oxide (ITO).

One or more touches, also known as touch contacts or touch events, maybe detected by the touch-sensitive display 118. The processor 102 maydetermine attributes of the touch, including a location of a touch.Touch location data may include data for an area of contact or data fora single point of contact, such as a point at or near a center of thearea of contact. The location of a detected touch may include x and ycomponents, e.g., horizontal and vertical components, respectively, withrespect to one's view of the touch-sensitive display 118. For example,the x location component may be determined by a signal generated fromone touch sensor, and the y location component may be determined by asignal generated from another touch sensor. A signal is provided to thecontroller 116 in response to detection of a touch. A touch may bedetected from any suitable input member, such as a finger, thumb,appendage, or other objects, for example, a stylus, pen, or otherpointer, depending on the nature of the touch-sensitive display 118.Multiple simultaneous touches may be detected.

The actuator(s) 120 may be depressed or activated by applying sufficientforce to the touch-sensitive display 118 to overcome the actuation forceof the actuator 120. The actuator(s) 120 may be actuated by pressinganywhere on the touch-sensitive display 118. The actuator(s) 120 mayprovide input to the processor 102 when actuated. Actuation of theactuator(s) 120 may result in provision of tactile feedback. When forceis applied, the touch-sensitive display 118 is depressible, pivotable,and/or movable. Such a force may actuate the actuator(s) 120. Thetouch-sensitive display 118 may, for example, float with respect to thehousing of the portable electronic device, i.e., the touch-sensitivedisplay 118 may not be fastened to the housing. A mechanical dome switchactuator may be utilized. In this example, tactile feedback is providedwhen the dome collapses due to imparted force and when the dome returnsto the rest position after release of the switch. Alternatively, theactuator 120 may comprise one or more piezoelectric (piezo) devices thatprovide tactile feedback for the touch-sensitive display 118.

Optional force sensors 122 may be disposed in conjunction with thetouch-sensitive display 118 to determine or react to forces applied tothe touch-sensitive display 118. The force sensor 122 may be disposed inline with a piezo actuator 120. The force sensors 122 may beforce-sensitive resistors, strain gauges, piezoelectric orpiezoresistive devices, pressure sensors, quantum tunneling composites,force-sensitive switches, or other suitable devices. Force as utilizedthroughout the specification, including the claims, refers to forcemeasurements, estimates, and/or calculations, such as pressure,deformation, stress, strain, force density, force-area relationships,thrust, torque, and other effects that include force or relatedquantities. Optionally, force information related to a detected touchmay be utilized to select information, such as information associatedwith a location of a touch. For example, a touch that does not meet aforce threshold may highlight a selection option, whereas a touch thatmeets a force threshold may select or input that selection option.Selection options include, for example, displayed or virtual keys of akeyboard; selection boxes or windows, e.g., “cancel,” “delete,” or“unlock”; function buttons, such as play or stop on a music player; andso forth. Different magnitudes of force may be associated with differentfunctions or input. For example, a lesser force may result in panning,and a higher force may result in zooming.

The touch-sensitive display 118 includes a display area in whichinformation may be displayed, and a non-display area extending aroundthe periphery of the display area. The display area generallycorresponds to the area of the display 112. Information is not displayedin the non-display area by the display, which non-display area isutilized to accommodate, for example, electronic traces or electricalconnections, adhesives or other sealants, and/or protective coatingsaround the edges of the display area. The non-display area may bereferred to as an inactive area and is not part of the physical housingor frame of the electronic device. Typically, no pixels of the displayare in the non-display area, thus no image can be displayed by thedisplay 112 in the non-display area. Optionally, a secondary display,not part of the primary display 112, may be disposed under thenon-display area. Touch sensors may be disposed in the non-display area,which touch sensors may be extended from the touch sensors in thedisplay area or distinct or separate touch sensors from the touchsensors in the display area. A touch, including a gesture, may beassociated with the display area, the non-display area, or both areas.The touch sensors may extend across substantially the entire non-displayarea or may be disposed in only part of the non-display area.

When viewing information on an electronic device, e.g., informationinput to or received by the electronic device, a user may choose tomanipulate the information. For example, a user may choose to editinformation by copying, cutting, deleting, or pasting information, forwhich moving an indicator through the information, highlighting parts ofthe information, moving the information, and so forth is advantageous.An indicator includes, for example, a cursor, a blinking character, acolored area, an insertion marker, highlighting, and so forth. Finecontrol or movement of an indicator through information is facilitatedthrough input such as one or more detected touches associated with oneor more controls displayed on a touch-sensitive display, although thetouch-sensitive display may be unable to provide such fine control dueto coarse touch sensitivity. For example, a user may have difficultytouching a position between a first displayed character and a seconddisplayed character on a touch-sensitive display. To support themanipulation of information, touch-sensitive controls are displayed tofacilitate movement of an indicator through the information, whichindicator may indicate a single position with the text or highlightmultiple characters of text. One or more controls may be provided tomove the indicator in one or more directions through the information.Each control may move the indicator in all possible directions, in onedirection, or in a subset of all the possible directions. Each controlmay provide the same functionality, e.g., moving the indicator in thesame direction(s), or the controls may provide different functionalityfrom one another, e.g., moving the indicator in different directions,such as up and down or left and right. The one or more controls may bedisplayed at or near one or more sides of the electronic device tofacilitate use of one or both hands to interact with the electronicdevice.

When at least two touches are detected on the touch-sensitive display,and release of one of the touches is subsequently detected, an editingcontrol is displayed on the touch-sensitive display. Advantageously, theat least two touches at least partially overlap in time. The editingcontrol may be displayed until release of another of the remainingtouches is detected, until a menu option or selection option isselected, after a time period of no detected activity, and so forth.Optionally, a virtual keyboard may be displayed to replace the editingcontrol when the release of the additional one of the two or moretouches is detected. The editing control is an individual control orgroup of controls that provide editing functions. The editing controlmay include one or more controls for moving an indicator, one or moreselection options to facilitate performing cut, copy, delete, and pastefunctions, one or more selection options to highlight information, andso forth. While typing on a virtual keyboard, multiple input members maybe at or near the virtual keyboard displayed on the touch-sensitivedisplay 118. Because the at least two touches may be at locationsassociated with the virtual keyboard, the edit controls may be quicklyaccessed during typing on the virtual keyboard.

Touch-sensitive controls are displayed on the touch-sensitive display118 as shown in the example of FIG. 2. In the left device 100 of FIG. 2,a first control 202 and a second control 204 are displayed on thetouch-sensitive display 118. The controls 202, 204 may optionally have adefault control direction, such as indicated by a displayed arrow asshown in FIG. 2. For example, a touch such as a tap at a locationassociated with the controls 202, 204, results in moving the indicatorin the default direction associated with the one of the controls 202,204 with which the touch is associated. For example, when a touch, suchas a tap, associated with the first control 202 is detected, anindicator 208 moves to the left by one character through displayedinformation 210, in the default direction for the first control 202.Optionally, the indicator 208 may move by more than one character, atleast one word, at least one sentence, at least one paragraph, at leastone page, and so forth. A touch such as a tap at location 206 isassociated with the second control 204 and results in moving theindicator 208 to the right through the information 210 by one character,in the default direction for the second control 204. In the exampleshown in FIG. 2, the touch at the location 206 is a tap that results inthe indicator 208 moving from the position shown on the left device 100to the position shown on the right device 100. The default directionassociated with each of the controls 202, 204 may be up, down, left,right, up and left, up and right, down and left, down and right, and soforth. Controls may have a default direction but need not have a defaultdirection. Although the default direction associated with the controls202, 204 is invoked in the above example with a tap, any type of touchmay result in a movement in the default direction, such as a double tap,flick, swipe, hovering or held touch, and so forth. Although twocontrols 202, 204 are shown in FIG. 2, any number of controls may bedisplayed.

The first control 202 is displayed adjacent to a virtual keyboard 212and on the left side of the display 118, which may facilitate easy useor operation by a finger of a left hand. The second control 204 isdisplayed adjacent to the virtual keyboard 212 and on the right side ofthe display 118, which may facilitate easy use by a finger of a righthand. Other locations for the controls may also be successfullyimplemented, including locations in the non-display area of thetouch-sensitive display 118. For example, the controls 202, 204 may beat or near a location where a touch was recently detected, at or near aposition where information is not currently displayed, at or near anouter edge of the display 118, away from an edge of the display 118, andso forth.

Although an example shape of the controls 202, 204 is shown in FIG. 2,the controls 202, 204 may be any shape or design. A touch associatedwith the controls 202, 204 may be detected while the controls 202, 204are displayed, are displayed with any opaque or translucent orsee-through level, are associated with a location in the non-displayarea, and so forth. For example, the controls 202, 204 may betemporarily displayed to indicate the location of the controls 202, 204,and the controls 202, 204 may cease to be displayed, e.g., to facilitatethe display of other information on the display 118. Alternatively,indications of the location of the controls 202, 204 may be utilized,such as when the controls 202, 204 are located in the non-display area.

The controls 202, 204 are stationary in that they do not move when theindicator 208 moves. The controls 202, 204 may be displayed in an areaoutside the area in which the information 210 is displayed, may bedisplayed in the area in which the information 210 is displayed, may bedisplayed adjacent to the area in which the information 210 isdisplayed, may be displayed to replace a part of the information 210,and so forth. The controls 202, 204 may optionally be moved to differentlocations. For example, the controls 202, 204 may move based on alocation of a touch, may move based on a setting specifying a locationfor the controls 202, 204, may move based on movement of the indicator208, may move based on the position of information displayed on thedisplay 118, and so forth.

In the example of FIG. 3, the electronic device 100 detects touches attwo locations 302, 304, wherein these touches at least partially overlapin time. The first touch location 302 is associated with the firstcontrol 202 and the second touch location 304 is associated with thesecond control 204. For example, the touches may overlap in time for 200milliseconds, 0.75 seconds, 1.25 seconds, or any other suitable periodof time. In the left device 100 of FIG. 3, highlighting 310 isinitiated, e.g., an end of the highlighting is established. Any otheraction, e.g., cut, copy, delete, paste, may optionally be performed inresponse to detecting that the touches at locations 302, 304 overlap intime. Detection of a third touch at a location 308 associated with thesecond control 204, as shown in the right device 100, results inextending the highlighting by one character to the right as shown on theright device 100 in this example. The end characters of the highlighting310 may be moved, e.g., ends of the highlighting may be changed, in anydirection by one or more touches associated with the first control 202and/or the second control 204.

In other examples, after initiating highlighting 310, a first indicatormay be moved in response to detection of a touch associated with thefirst control 202 and a second indicator may be moved in response todetection of a touch associated with the second control 204. In such anexample, the highlighting 310 selects a part of the information 210 thatis between the first indicator and the second indicator.

The controls 202, 204 function as virtual joysticks in the examplesshown in the figures. For example, functioning as a virtual joystickincludes detecting movement of a touch associated with the virtualjoystick and moving an indicator in response to the detected movement;the movement may be in any direction; maintaining a touch at a fixedlocation continues to move the indicator along the current direction ofmovement, and other physical joystick-like functionality. Optionally,the touch associated with the virtual joystick may move in multipledirections before the touch is released. In the example shown in FIG. 4,a touch that originates at a location 402 associated with the secondcontrol 204 moves upward in the direction associated with the arrow 404,the indicator 208 is moved from the position after “for” shown on theleft device 100 to the position after “has” shown on the right device100. The indicator 208 is generally moved in a direction based on thedirection of movement of the touch, e.g., the indicator 208 may be movedin the same direction as the movement of the touch, in the oppositedirection as the direction of the touch, e.g., as in an airplanecontrol, and so forth.

The indicator 208 may continue to move, for example, as long as thetouch continues/continues to move, until the touch is released, or untilthe touch returns to the original location 402. The touch may move inany direction, including multiple directions, resulting in the indicator208 being moved in the same direction(s) along with the movement of thetouch.

Optionally, the further the touch moves from the original location 402of the touch, the faster, further, and so forth the indicator 208 ismoved, e.g., the faster the movement of the indicator repeats. Theindicator 208 may alternatively move at a constant speed regardless ofthe distance that the touch moves. The indicator 208 may move at a speedsubstantially the same as the speed of movement of the touch.Alternatively, the indicator 208 may move a distance based on thedistance of the movement of the touch. For example, when the touch movesa distance of the height of two lines of characters, the indicator 208moves two lines of characters, the indicator 208 moves four lines ofcharacters, or any other proportional movement.

The controls 202, 204 may be displayed in accordance with the example ofFIG. 5. Optionally, a gesture in the area where a keyboard is displayedmay be utilized to display the controls 202, 204, and a gesture in theopposite direction discontinues display of the controls 202, 204. Asshown on the left device 100 in this example, a touch that is a swipe isdetected beginning at a location 502 and moves in the direction of thearrow 504 while the controls 202, 204 are not displayed. The controls202, 204 are displayed in response as shown on the right device 100. Atouch that is a swipe is detected beginning at a location 506 and movesin the direction of the arrow 508 while the controls 202, 204 aredisplayed in this example, and the controls 202, 204 are no longerdisplayed on the display 118 in response to this detection. Although themovement of the touches in these examples is up and down, the display ofthe controls 202, 204 may be provided in response to detecting movementsuch as a swipe in any direction(s). Any type of touch may be detectedto provide the display of the controls 202, 204. For example, two ormore separate touches at any different locations may be detected.Optionally, the controls 202, 204 may be a displayed when a touchassociated with the information 210 is detected.

A flowchart illustrating a method of touch-sensitive control is shown inFIG. 6. The method may be carried out by software executed, for example,by the processor 102. Coding of software for carrying out such a methodis within the scope of a person of ordinary skill in the art given thepresent description. The method may contain additional or fewerprocesses than shown and/or described, and may be performed in adifferent order. Computer-readable code executable by at least oneprocessor of the portable electronic device to perform the method may bestored in a computer-readable medium, such as a non-transitorycomputer-readable medium.

Information is displayed 602 on the touch-sensitive display 118. Anindicator such as described above is optionally displayed within theinformation. The information 208 may be information input into theportable electronic device 100 or received in a communication by theportable electronic device 100, e.g., an electronic mail message(e-mail), a short message service (SMS) message, a webpage, a document,a calendar event, a contact, and so forth.

One or more controls are displayed 604 on the touch-sensitive display118. The controls may be, for example, the controls 202, 204 shown inFIG. 2, FIG. 3, FIG. 4, and FIG. 5, or any other controls. When a touchassociated with one of the controls 202, 204 is detected 606, theindicator 208 is moved 608 through the information in accordance withthe touch characteristics, e.g., type and direction. The touch may movein any direction, including multiple directions, resulting in theindicator 208 being moved in the same direction(s) along with themovement of the touch. For example, a detected touch associated with thefirst control 202 results in moving the indicator 208 through theinformation 210 in a first direction and a second direction as shown inthe example of FIG. 2. A detected touch associated with the secondcontrol 204 may result in moving the indicator 208 through theinformation 210 in the first direction and the second direction. A firsttouch associated with the first control 202 and a second touchassociated with the second control 204 may result in the indicator 208moving in the same direction. For example, when a touch associated withthe second control 204, as shown in FIG. 2, is detected 606, theindicator is moved 608 in the right direction. When a gesture indicatingmovement to the right, e.g., a swipe to the right, associated with thefirst control 202 is detected 606, the indicator 208 is also moved 608to the right. Example gestures include a swipe, a tap, a double tap, aflick, and so forth. The gesture may indicate movement in any direction.

The detection 606 and movement 608 may be repeated any number of times.Although a first direction and a second direction are discussed above,any number of directions may be associated with the controls displayedat 604. The movement 608 may be up, down, left, right, or anycombination of directions.

Touch-sensitive controls are displayed to facilitate the movement of anindicator through information displayed on a touch-sensitive display ofan electronic device. The touch-sensitive controls facilitate finecontrol of movement of the indicator, which is advantageous when aninput device, such as a touch-sensitive display, has limited or coarsesensitivity, such as limited ability to locate a touch at a specificpoint on a display. Multiple controls for moving the indicator in thesame directions or different directions may be displayed to facilitatethe detection of touches that do not overlap in time and touches that atleast partially overlap in time. For example, a detected touchassociated with a first control results in moving the indicator in fourdirections and a detected touch associated with a second control mayresult in moving the indicator in the same four directions. A touchassociated with the first control may result in movement of theindicator in one direction, e.g., the up direction, and a touchassociated with the second control may result in movement of theindicator in another direction, e.g., to the right. The touch may be atap, a flick in a direction, touch and movement associated with avirtual joystick, a gesture in a direction, multiple touches, and soforth. When the first touch and the second touch at least partiallyoverlap in time, the movements may be performed substantiallysimultaneously, e.g., movement up and to the right. Touches on bothcontrols that overlap in time may also result in other events and/oractions such as initiation of highlighting, selection, and so forth.

Although examples described in connection with FIG. 2, FIG. 3, FIG. 4,FIG. 5, and FIG. 6 include touches associated with a particular one ofthe controls 202, 204 and a resulting action, the touch and theresulting action may alternatively be associated with the other of thecontrols 202, 204 or any other control. Although the method of FIG. 6 isdescribed with reference to FIG. 2, FIG. 3, FIG. 4, and FIG. 5, themethod is applicable to any electronic device.

An alternative editing control is displayed on the touch-sensitivedisplay 118 of the electronic device 100 as shown in the example of FIG.7. As shown on the left device 100 of FIG. 7, a touch is held at onelocation 702, referred to as a hold touch, and a touch detected andreleased at a second location 704, referred to as a release touch, aredetected in an area associated with a virtual keyboard 212. The holdtouch and the release touch overlap partially in time, and the releasetouch ends prior to the hold touch. Alternatively, the hold touch andthe release touch may be associated with any other area of thetouch-sensitive display 118. Alternatively, the hold touch and therelease touch may be associated with physical buttons or keys such askeys of a physical keyboard or keys along the housing of the device 100.Although the hold touch location 702 is to the left of the release touchlocation 704, the locations 702, 704 of the touches may be at anylocations on the touch-sensitive display 118, e.g., both may be locatedin an area in which the virtual keyboard 212 is displayed, both may belocated in an area in which information is displayed, one may be locatedin the area of the keyboard 212 and another in the area in which theinformation is displayed, and so forth.

As shown on the right device 100 in the example of FIG. 7, when therelease touch is released, editing control 706 including a highlightselection option 708 are displayed. As shown in FIG. 7, the editingcontrol 706 is displayed at or near the end location 704 of the releasetouch, which is on a right side of the display 118 in the example shownon the right device 100 of FIG. 7. In other examples, the editingcontrol 706 may be displayed in any location such as at or near a leftside of the display 118 when the release touch has an end location onthe left side of the display 118, may be displayed at or near a centerof the touch-sensitive display 118, may be displayed in an area in whichthe virtual keyboard 212 was previously displayed, may be displayed atany location associated with an end location for a touch, at anylocation associated with an origin location of a touch, at or near alocation opposite an origin location or end location of a touch, and soforth. The editing control 706 may be in an editing window, an editingarea, and so forth.

The editing control 706 shown in the example of FIG. 7 includesselection options for the editing functions CUT, COPY, PASTE, andDELETE. The editing control may include more or fewer selection options,controls, and so forth. Additional selection options include, forexample, END, HOME, PAGE UP, PAGE DOWN, END, SEND, GO, and SPELL. Anindicator 714 is also displayed within the information. The indicator714 may be displayed whenever the information is displayed, only whenthe editing control 706 is displayed, and so forth.

The editing control 706 also includes selection options or controlsdesignated with arrows for up, down, left, and right directions relativeto information displayed or the device 100. A detected touch, e.g., atap, associated with the directional selection options results in movingan indicator one character through information in the directionassociated with the associated directional selection option. A gestureassociated with a directional selection option results in moving theindicator multiple characters through the information in the directionassociated with the directional selection option. For example, when aswipe associated with a right directional selection option is detected,the indicator is moved from a first word to the start of a second wordto the right of the first word. The indicator may be moved through oneor more characters of the first word and through a space to the start ofthe second word. Alternatively, a swipe associated with an updirectional selection option results in moving the indicator to a startof a paragraph within which the indicator is located. Any other type ofgesture may be detected. Any other action may be associated with adetected gesture. A touch associated with a directional selection optionresults in moving the indicator a single character and a gestureassociated with the directional selection option results in moving theindicator multiple characters. Optionally, a touch associated with adirectional selection option results in moving the indicator multiplecharacters and a gesture associated with the directional selectionoption results in moving the indicator a single character. Althoughmovement of the indicator through the information is discussed, theelectronic device 100 may determine a position to which the indicator isto be moved and may display the indicator at that location rather thanmoving the indicator through the information.

Any other controls may be included with the editing control 706 such asany other editing control, any other keyboard key, and so forth. Theediting control 706 may be a toggle button, a switch, a drop-down menu,a virtual trackpad, a virtual joystick, a virtual directional pad(D-pad), any combination of the foregoing, and so forth.

A detected touch associated with the highlight selection option 708 isdetected to initiate and end highlighting of information in thisexample. When the highlight selection option 708 is selected, e.g., atouch associated with the highlight selection option 708 is detected, adetected touch associated with an editing control for moving theindicator, e.g., a directional selection option, results in highlightinginformation. For example, when selection of the highlight selectionoption 708 is detected, an end point for highlighting is initiated atthe position of the indicator 714 in the information and is moved as aresult of a detected touch associated with an editing control. Asubsequent selection of the highlight selection option 708 may result ininitiating a different (another) end point for the highlighting. Thehighlighting may remain while the highlight selection option 708 isselected, e.g., while a touch is detected, until a second touchassociated with the highlight selection potion 708 is detected, and soforth. The highlighting may end when the highlighting selection option708 is not selected, e.g., when a touch is released, when the highlightselection option 708 is selected a second time to toggle the highlightselection option 708, and so forth. Alternatively, the highlighting mayremain when the highlight selection option 708 is not selected, e.g.,the highlighting may remain until another editing control is selected,until the editing control is no longer displayed, and so forth. Thehighlight selection option 708 may behave similarly to the SHIFT key ona keyboard. This process may be utilized to select or change an endpoint for the highlighting.

The highlight selection option 708 may be displayed at or near thelocation 704 of the release touch to facilitate easy selection of thehighlight selection option by the input member of the release touch. Thehighlight selection option 708 is optionally displayed at or near thelocation 702 of the hold touch to facilitate easy selection of thehighlight selection option 708 by the input member of the hold touch.For example, the input member of the hold touch may move along thedisplay 118 to the highlight selection option 708 to select thehighlight selection option 708. The highlight selection option 708 maybe displayed in any other location on the display 118. Although thehighlight selection option 708 shown in FIG. 7 is displayed as a key orbutton, highlighting may be engaged or disengaged by a drop-down menu, aphysical key, a radio button, a slider, an option button, a menu, acheckbox, and so forth.

The selection options 710, 712 in the example of FIG. 7 may optionallytoggle between display of the virtual keyboard 212 and display of theediting control 706, may toggle display of other selection options orcontrols, and so forth. For example, the EDIT selection option 710initiates display of the editing control 706 as shown on the rightdevice 100 of FIG. 7. The KEYBOARD selection option 712 may initiatedisplay of the virtual keyboard 212 as shown on the left device 100. Thedisplay controls 710, 712 may be selected as an alternative to using thehold touch and the release touch to toggle display of the editingcontrol. The selection options 710, 712 may be associated with the holdtouch and the release touch. For example, after detection of the holdtouch and the release touch results in the display of the editingcontrol 706, a touch associated with the display selection option 712results in display of the virtual keyboard 212 to replace the display ofthe editing control 706.

Release of the hold touch results in display of the virtual keyboard 212instead of the editing control 706. The editing control 706 may bedisplayed while the hold touch is detected until the hold touch isreleased, and thus is no longer detected. Alternatively, a touchassociated with the KEYBOARD selection option 712 may result in displayof the virtual keyboard instead of the editing control 706. The holdtouch may optionally move to any location on the touch-sensitive display118. Release of the hold touch may alternatively result in display ofany other selection options or controls.

A flowchart illustrating a method of touch-sensitive control includingdisplaying an editing control on the touch-sensitive display 118 isshown in FIG. 9. The method may be carried out by software executed, forexample, by the processor 102. Coding of software for carrying out sucha method is within the scope of a person of ordinary skill in the artgiven the present description. The method may contain additional orfewer processes than shown and/or described, and may be performed in adifferent order. Computer-readable code executable by at least oneprocessor of the portable electronic device to perform the method may bestored in a computer-readable medium, such as a non-transitorycomputer-readable medium.

When a hold touch and a release touch are detected 902 and release ofthe release touch is detected 904, an editing control is displayed 906.The hold touch may be the hold touch at location 702 and the releasetouch may be the release touch at location 704 of the examples of FIG. 7and FIG. 8. The hold touch and the release touch may be any other touchor gesture. The electronic device 100 may determine that the hold touchand the release touch at least partially overlap in time, e.g., for 0.5seconds, 1 second, or any other suitable time. Further, determining thatthe hold touch and the release touch at least partially overlap in timemay include detecting that the hold touch and the release touch overlapin time for at least a time value. The time value may be any thresholdamount of time that may be established by a manufacturer of theelectronic device 100, by a programmer of the electronic device 100, bya user of the electronic device 100, and so forth. Detecting that thehold touch and the release touch overlap in time for at least a timevalue may prevent detection of two or more touches that are not intendedto initiate display of the editing control, e.g., multiple touches thatare intended to select keys of the virtual keyboard, inadvertenttouches, and so forth.

The editing control displayed at 906 may be the editing control 706 andthe highlight control 708 of the examples of FIG. 7 and FIG. 8.Alternatively, the editing control may include any number and type ofcontrols, such as one or more selection options for editing information,one or more controls for inputting information, e.g., a SPACE key, akeyboard key, and so forth, one or more controls for moving an indicatorthrough information, and so forth.

When release of the hold touch is detected 908, display of the editingcontrol is discontinued 910. For example, as shown in the example ofFIG. 8, the display of the editing control 706 and the highlight control708 is replaced by display of the virtual keyboard 212. The display ofthe editing control may be replaced by any display such as display ofinformation, display of a background, display of one or more controls,and so forth.

Although display of an editing control is initiated by the combinationof the hold touch and the release touch as shown in FIG. 9, any otherdisplay or action may be initiated by the combination of the hold touchand the release touch. For example, the first control 202 and the secondcontrol 204 as shown in FIG. 2 are displayed at 906 in response todetection at 902, 904 of the combination of the hold touch and therelease touch. Although the method of FIG. 9 is described with referenceto FIG. 7 and FIG. 8, the method is applicable to any other electronicdevice.

In the example of FIG. 10, the electronic device 100 is a tablet 1000.As shown in the example of FIG. 10, the tablet 1000 includes atouch-sensitive display 1002 that includes a non-display area 1004 and adisplay area 1006. The tablet 1000 includes a first control 1008 and thesecond control 1010 positioned in the non-display area 1004. While thecontrols 1008, 1010 are shown in FIG. 10, the controls 1008, 1010 arenot displayed because they are associated with the non-display area1004. In this example, touch sensors are disposed in the non-displayarea 1004. The controls 1008, 1010 may operate in the same manner as thecontrols 202, 204 of FIG. 2, FIG. 3, FIG. 4, and FIG. 5. For example, atouch associated with the first control 1008 moves the indicator 1012.

A marker may be displayed in the display area 1006 of thetouch-sensitive display 1002 to indicate the positions of the controls1008, 1010 in the non-display area 1006. The touch-sensitive display1002 may display the indicator at or near the border of the display area1006 adjacent to the positions of the controls 1008, 1010. The indicatormay be a line, a symbol, an icon, a bar, an arrow, and so forth. A lightemitting diode or other small visual indicator may be disposed under thenon-display area 1004 to indicate the control location. The areasassociated with the controls 1008, 1010 may be anywhere in thenon-display area 1004, for example, next to the display area 1006.

FIG. 10 also illustrates optional locations for the controls 1008, 1010in the non-display area 1004. The control 1014 is at or near the centerof a side of the non-display area 1004. One or more controls may bepositioned at or near the center of any of the other sides of thenon-display area 1004. Control 1016 is positioned at a corner of thenon-display area 1004. One or more controls may be positioned at anyother corner of the non-display area 1004. Control 1018 extends alongsubstantially an entire length of a side of the non-display area 1004.One or more controls may extend along other sides of the non-displayarea. Any combination of the example controls 1008, 1010, 1014, 1016,and 1018 may be provided. A control may comprise a substantial area ofthe non-display area 1004 to facilitate selection of the control, e.g.,substantially an entire side of the non-display area 1004, an arealarger than an area encompassed by a touch, and so forth. Optionally, acontrol may be associated with an area at or near a location of a touchdetected in the non-display area.

A flowchart illustrating a method of touch-sensitive control is shown inFIG. 11. The method may be carried out by software executed, forexample, by the processor 102. Coding of software for carrying out sucha method is within the scope of a person of ordinary skill in the artgiven the present description. The method may contain additional orfewer processes than shown and/or described, and may be performed in adifferent order. Computer-readable code executable by at least oneprocessor of the portable electronic device to perform the method may bestored in a computer-readable medium, such as a non-transitorycomputer-readable medium.

Information is displayed 1102 in the display area 1006 of thetouch-sensitive display 1002. An indicator such as described above isoptionally displayed within the information. The information may beinformation input into the tablet 1000 or received in a communication bythe tablet 1000, e.g., an electronic mail message (e-mail), a shortmessage service (SMS) message, a webpage, a document, a calendar event,a contact, and so forth.

One or more controls are associated 1104 with areas of the non-displayarea 1004 of the touch-sensitive display 1002. The controls may be, forexample, the controls 1008, 1010 shown in FIG. 10, which may besubstantially similar to the controls 202, 204 shown in FIG. 2, FIG. 3,FIG. 4, and FIG. 5, or any other controls. When a touch associated withone of the controls 1008, 1010 is detected 1106, the indicator 1012 ismoved 1108 through the information in accordance with the touchcharacteristics, e.g., type and direction. The touch may move in anydirection, including multiple directions, resulting in the indicator1012 being moved in the same direction(s) along with the movement of thetouch. A first touch associated with the first control 1008 and a secondtouch associated with the second control 1010 may result in theindicator 1012 moving in the same direction. For example, when a touchassociated with the second control 1010, is detected 1106, the indicatoris moved 1108 in the right direction. When a gesture indicating movementto the right, e.g., a swipe to the right, associated with the firstcontrol 1008 is detected 1106, the indicator 1012 is also moved 1108 tothe right.

The detection 1106 and movement 1108 may be repeated any number oftimes. Although a first direction and a second direction are discussedabove, any number of directions may be associated with the controls1008, 1010. The movement 1108 may be up, down, left, right, or anycombination of directions.

In the example of FIG. 12, the editing control 706 includes a virtualtrackpad 1202. The example editing control 706 also includes selectionoptions to facilitate performing cut, copy, paste, and select functions.Additional selection options may be included in the editing control 706.For example, the editing control 706 may include selection options fordelete, page up, page down, and so forth. The editing control 706including the virtual trackpad 1202 are displayed in response todetecting the hold touch at hold touch location 702 and detectingrelease of the release touch at release touch location 704. When releaseof the hold touch is detected, display of the editing control 706including the virtual trackpad 1202 is discontinued. Alternatively, anyother touch, gesture, instruction, and so forth may result in display ofthe editing control 706 including the virtual trackpad 1202. The editingcontrol 706 may be displayed in response to detecting a touch associatedwith the selection option 710 and display of the editing control 706 maybe discontinued in response to detecting a touch associated withselection option 712. The display of the editing control 706 may bediscontinued in response to detecting a touch in an area not associatedwith the editing control 706, e.g., a touch in an area not associatedwith the virtual trackpad 1202 and not associated with the selectionoptions. The display of the editing control 706 may be discontinued inresponse to detecting a double tap associated with the virtual trackpad1202.

The virtual trackpad 1202 is displayed as a border surrounding an areain which touches associated with the virtual trackpad 1202 are detected.Alternatively, any information that identifies the area of thetouch-sensitive display 118 associated with the virtual trackpad 1202may be displayed. The virtual trackpad 1202 and any of the selectionoptions or controls of the editing control 706 may be overlaid over thevirtual keyboard 212 such that some or all of the virtual keyboard 212remains visible. Display of the editing control 706 advantageouslyreplaces the display of the virtual keyboard 212 to increase the amountof the touch-sensitive display 118 available for display of information,e.g., when the editing control 706 is displayed on a portable electronicdevice. Although the example editing control 706 replaces the display ofthe virtual keyboard 212 and is displayed within the same dimensions asthe virtual keyboard 212, the editing control 706 including the virtualtrackpad 1202 may be displayed in any suitable size.

When a touch associated with the virtual trackpad 1202 is detected as aswipe, the indicator 714 is moved in the direction of the swipe. Theindicator 714 is moved a distance based on the distance of the swipe.Alternatively, the indicator 714 may be moved a distance that is notbased on the distance of the swipe. For example, the indicator may moveby one character or other unit for each detected swipe. Any other touchor gesture associated with the virtual trackpad 1202 may be detected andany other action may be performed in response to a touch or gestureassociated with the virtual trackpad 1202. For example, a touch at ornear a side of the virtual trackpad 1202 may result in moving theindicator 714 in a direction of the associated side, e.g., a touch at ornear the top of the virtual trackpad 1202 may result in moving theindicator 714 up, a touch at or near the left side of the virtualtrackpad 1202 may result in moving the indicator 714 to the left. Forexample, a touch at or near the center or a corner of the virtualtrackpad 1202 may engage and disengage selection.

A first touch associated with the virtual trackpad 1202 may be detectedto move the indicator 714 to a first position in displayed information.A touch associated with the selection option identified “select” may bedetected to initiate highlighting. A second touch associated with thevirtual trackpad 1202 may be detected to move the second indicator to asecond position in the displayed information. The displayed informationbetween the indicator 714 and the second indicator is highlighted.

In the example of FIG. 13, the virtual trackpad 1202 may be displayed inconjunction with display of an enlargement of information 1302. Theenlargement of information 1302 includes an enlarged display ofinformation as described in further detail below. Alternatively, asecond virtual trackpad may be displayed instead of the enlargement, ora second enlargement may be displayed instead of the virtual trackpad.For example, a touch associated with the first virtual trackpad or firstenlargement results in moving a first end point of highlighting or afirst indicator, and a touch associated with the second virtual trackpador second enlargement of information results in moving a second endpoint of highlighting or a second indicator.

In the example of FIG. 14, one or more enlargements and/or virtualtrackpads 1404 are displayed between a left side of a virtual keyboard1402 and a right side of the virtual keyboard 1406. The enlargementincludes an enlarged display of information as described in furtherdetail below. The virtual trackpad 1404 may be implemented as describedin conjunction with the virtual trackpad 1202. For example, the one ormore enlargements and/or virtual trackpads 1404 may be an enlargementand a trackpad in any order, two virtual trackpads, or two enlargements.Each enlargement or virtual trackpad may control a different end pointof highlighting or a different indicator.

For embodiments herein, highlighting may be controlled by receivinginput to move and establish a first end point of the highlighting andreceiving input to move and establish a second end point of thehighlighting. Optionally, input may be received to simultaneously orsubstantially simultaneously move two end points of the highlighting,e.g., input associated with a first selection option or control mayresult in moving a first end point of the highlighting and inputassociated with a second selection option or control may result inmoving a second end point of the highlighting. Alternatively, a firstend point of highlighting may be fixed, e.g., a first end point may befixed at a location of an indicator when highlighting is initiated, andinput to move and establish a second end point may be received.Optionally, input results in selecting an end point of highlighting formoving.

For embodiments herein, a density of touch sensors may be uniform or mayvary throughout the touch-sensitive display 118. For example, thedensity of the touch sensors may vary between display area(s) andnon-display area(s). The density of the touch sensors may be greater inareas where editing controls are provided, e.g., the virtual trackpad1202; the controls 202, 204, 1008, 1010, 1014, 1016, and 1018; theediting control 706; and so forth. The touch sensors may be disposed inonly part(s) of the touch-sensitive display 118. For example, the touchsensors may be disposed at or near a location where the display areameets the non-display area of the touch-sensitive display 118.

A touch-sensitive editing control is displayed to facilitate themovement of an indicator through information displayed on atouch-sensitive display of an electronic device. The touch-sensitivecontrols are displayed when two touches that at least partially overlapin time are detected and release of one of the touches is detected. Thedisplay of the touch-sensitive controls is replaced when release of theother one of the touches is detected. The combination of touches, e.g.,the two touches followed by release of a first touch and later releaseof a second touch, facilitates easier access to the editing control andeasier return to a previous display, e.g., a virtual keyboard.

An electronic device comprises a touch-sensitive display and a processorcoupled to the touch-sensitive display and configured to displayinformation on the touch-sensitive display, display a first control,wherein a touch associated with the first control results in moving anindicator through the information in a first direction and in a seconddirection, wherein the first control does not move with movement of theindicator, display a second control, wherein a touch associated with thesecond control results in moving the indicator through the informationin the first direction and the second direction, wherein the firstcontrol does not move with movement of the indicator, detect a firsttouch associated with the first control, in response to the detecting,move the indicator in the first direction, and in response to detectinga second touch associated with the second control, move the indicator inthe first direction.

A method comprises displaying information on a touch-sensitive displayof an electronic device, displaying a first control, wherein a touchassociated with the first control results in moving an indicator throughthe information in a first direction and in a second direction, whereinthe first control does not move with movement of the indicator,displaying a second control, wherein a touch associated with the secondcontrol results in moving the indicator through the information in thefirst direction and in the second direction, wherein the second controldoes not move with movement of the indicator, detecting a first touchassociated with the first control, in response to the detecting, movingthe indicator in the first direction, and in response to detecting asecond touch associated with the second control, moving the indicator inthe first direction. The method may also comprise initiatinghighlighting of the information in response to detecting the first touchand the second touch.

An electronic device comprises a touch-sensitive display and a processorcoupled to the touch-sensitive display and configured to detect a holdtouch and a release touch on a touch-sensitive display of an electronicdevice wherein the hold touch and the release touch overlap at leastpartially in time, detect release of the release touch, and in responseto detecting the release of the release touch, display an editingcontrol while the hold touch is detected. The editing control mayinclude a highlight control for identifying one or more end points indisplayed information.

A method comprises detecting a hold touch and a release touch on atouch-sensitive display of an electronic device, wherein the hold touchand the release touch overlap at least partially in time, detectingrelease of the release touch, and in response to detecting the releaseof the release touch, displaying an editing control while the hold touchis detected. The method may comprise determining that the hold touch andthe release touch overlap in time for at least a first time value. Themethod may include moving an indicator from a first word to a secondword in response to detecting a gesture associated with the editingcontrol.

When viewing information on an electronic device, e.g., informationinput to or received by the electronic device, a user may manipulate theinformation, e.g., make changes, move, cut, copy, paste, delete, andperform other functions with the information. For example, a user mayedit information by moving an indicator within the information. Anindicator includes a cursor, a marker, a blinking character, a pointer,highlighting, and so forth. Editing the information may be difficultwhen the information is displayed in a small size. For example, portableelectronic devices typically include small displays. Coarse inputresolution of an input device, such as coarse sensor resolution of atouch-sensitive display may cause difficulty in performing fineselection or movement of an indicator within information displayed in asmall size. For example, a user may have difficulty positioning ormoving a cursor because accurately touching a position between twocharacters is difficult. To aid in the manipulation of information, atleast part of the information is enlarged or magnified, also referred toas zooming, and displayed on the touch-sensitive display 118. Theenlargement may replace at least part of other displayed information,such as a virtual keyboard, virtual keys, controls, or otherinformation, that is displayed on the touch-sensitive display 118.

A flowchart illustrating a method of displaying an enlargement ofinformation on the touch-sensitive display 118 is shown in FIG. 15. Themethod may be carried out by software executed, for example, by theprocessor 102. Coding of software for carrying out such a method iswithin the scope of a person of ordinary skill in the art given thepresent description. The method may contain additional or fewerprocesses than shown and/or described, and may be performed in adifferent order. Computer-readable code executable by at least oneprocessor of the portable electronic device to perform the method may bestored in a computer-readable medium, such as a non-transitorycomputer-readable medium.

Information is displayed 1502 on the touch-sensitive display 118.Information is displayed in one area 1602 and information in the form ofa virtual keyboard is displayed in another area 1604 in the example ofFIG. 16. Alternatively, the information from the area 1602 may continueinto the area 1604, such as shown in the example of FIG. 19. Informationdisplayed in the areas 1602, 1604 may include one or more controls,selection options, and so forth. The controls include but are notlimited to one or more selection options, switches, drop-down menus,dials, scrollbars, sliders, and so forth. The displayed information maybe information input to the portable electronic device 100, informationreceived in a communication by the portable electronic device 100, e.g.,in an electronic mail message, in a short message service (SMS) message,a webpage, a document, a calendar event, a contact, and so forth. Anindicator, e.g., a cursor, a marker, a blinking character, a pointer,highlighting, and so forth, may be displayed in the information, such asthe indicator 1606 shown in FIG. 16.

When a touch that invokes an enlargement is detected 1504, at least partof the information is displayed 1506 in an enlarged form. Theenlargement may be invoked, also referred to as initiated or activated,by detecting a touch associated with a selection option, such as the“EDIT” selection option 1608 in the example of FIG. 16, detecting agesture, detecting one or more touches or gestures associated with theinformation, detecting selection of a physical button or key, detectinga touch associated with a menu item, and so forth. A selection optionmay be utilized to alternate between display of the enlargement anddisplay of other information. The selection option may be displayed inthe same location on the display, e.g., the “EDIT” selection option 1608and the “ABC” selection option 1616.

An indicator, e.g., the indicator 1614 in the example of FIG. 16, may bedisplayed in the enlargement. For example, the indicator may be anenlarged indicator displayed at a position corresponding with thelocation of the indicator in the information, e.g., between the samecharacters of the information, such as shown in FIG. 16, the samehighlighted character(s) of the information, and so forth. Thetouch-sensitive display 118 may optionally display other selectionoptions, such as cut, copy, paste, delete, directional options orcontrols 1618, 1620, 1622, 1624 in the example of FIG. 16, and so forth.

The information included in the enlargement corresponds with informationat or near the indicator, such as shown in the example of FIG. 16. Inthis example, information from a row above and a row below the indicator1606 as well as information to the left and right of the indicator 1606is shown. Because more information than, for example, a single word, isdisplayed, a user is able to see more information to facilitate easierand more flexible movement of the indicator through the information.Alternatively, information included in the enlargement may correspondwith any other information, such as the beginning of information, theend of information, information at or near a misspelled word,information that was previously included in the enlargement, and soforth.

Indicators may be displayed in the enlargement, the information, orboth. When a touch associated with any indicator is detected at 1508,the indicator in the information and/or the indicator in the enlargementare moved 1510 in accordance with the touch, e.g., up, down, left,and/or right. If, after a period of time, a touch associated with anindicator is not detected at 1508, the method proceeds to 1512. A touchassociated with an indicator includes a touch on, at, or near eitherindicator, a touch associated with a control for an indicator, such asthe directional options 1618, 1620, 1622, 1624 in the example of FIG. 16or an editing control such as a joystick, any touch in the enlargementor the trackpad, and so forth. In the example of FIG. 17, the touchassociated with the indicator may be a touch at touch location 1702associated with the area 1604 of the touch-sensitive display 118associated with the display of the enlargement. Alternatively, input maybe provided from a control other than the touch-sensitive display 118,such as a physical button, a key of a physical keyboard, a mouse, anavigation device, e.g., a joystick, an optical navigation device, trackpad, and so forth. The indicator in the enlargement and/or the indicatorin the information may be moved to a different position, may highlightinformation, may perform another function, or may be modified in anyway. The enlargement may function similar to a virtual trackpad, e.g.,touches in the area associated with the enlargement move the indicator.

The indicator may highlight the information. One or both ends of thehighlighting may be adjusted to select different end points, e.g.,characters, of the highlighting within the information. The end pointsmay be moved one at a time, e.g., selection and optional movement of oneend point followed by selection and optional movement of the other endpoint. The end points may be selected/moved in any order, andselection/movement may be repeated for either or both end points.Optionally, both end points may be moved simultaneously, e.g., byseparate touches, one associated with each end point. The highlightingmay be any type of marking of the information to cause the highlightedinformation to appear different than unhighlighted information, such asbackground color or style, underlining, outlining, bolding, italics,shading, text coloring, font, relative information size, and so forth.

Information displayed in the enlargement may change as the indicatormoves through the information. For example, the information displayed inthe enlargement may change responsive to the movement of the indicatorto maintain the indicator at or near the center of the enlargement. Forexample, the indicator or the word in which the indicator is located maybe centered in the area of the enlargement. An indicator may be at ornear the center of enlargement when the indicator is close to thecenter, is about the center, is away from the center by a character, aword, a line of text, and so forth. An indicator may be offset from thecenter due to the size of information displayed in an enlargement, dueto the length of a line of the information, due to the length of a word,and so forth.

When an indication to end the enlargement is detected 1512, the displayof the enlargement ends. For example, the virtual keyboard may bedisplayed to replace the display of the enlargement, the display of theinformation may be expanded to replace the display of the enlargement,additional controls may be displayed to replace the display of theenlargement, and so forth. The indication to end the enlargement may bedetected at 1512 upon detecting selection of a selection option to endenlargement, such as the “ABC” selection option 1616, after a period oftime occurs without detecting a touch, upon detection of a gestureindicating end of the enlargement, completion of an editing functionsuch as cut, copy, paste, delete, and so forth.

Although the method of FIG. 15 is described with reference to FIG. 16and FIG. 17, the method is applicable to FIG. 18 and FIG. 19 and anyother electronic device.

Information is displayed on the device 100 in an upper area 1602 and avirtual keyboard is displayed in a lower area 1604 of the left device100 in the example of FIG. 16. An indicator 1606 is displayed in theinformation in this example. The two areas may be separated from eachother, adjacent to each other, distanced from each other, side by sidevertically or horizontally, one area at least partially surrounding theother area, and so forth. The information in the upper area 1602 may bedisplayed in the lower area 1604 and the information in the lower area1604 may be displayed in the upper area 1602. A boundary line or othervisual element may separate the areas. The information in the upper area1602 may continue into the lower area 1604 and no visual element mayseparate the areas, as shown in the example of FIG. 19. Alternatively,the areas 1602, 1604 may at least partially overlap, where theenlargement or the information is partially translucent.

The sizes of the areas may vary. As shown in in the example of FIG. 16,the size of the upper area 1602 on the right device 100 is smaller thanthe upper area 1602 of the left device 100, and the lower area 1604 ofthe right device 100 is larger than the lower area 1604 of the leftdevice 100. Alternatively, the size of the upper area may increase andthe size of the lower area may be decrease when the enlargement isdisplayed, or the sizes of the areas may remain the same. Optionally,the sizes of the areas may change while the enlargement is displayed,for example, to facilitate display of larger words in the enlargement,to facilitate faster movement of the indicator, and so forth.

The display of the virtual keyboard on the left device 100 in theexample of FIG. 16 includes a selection option 1608 labeled “EDIT” thatmay be utilized to invoke the enlargement. Detection of a touch at atouch location associated with the selection option 1608, such as thelocation 1610 in FIG. 16, invokes the enlargement 1612. The selectionoption 1608 may include a label, such as a text label, a graphic label,a symbolic label, and so forth.

The enlargement 1612 includes display of some of the information fromthe upper area 1602 in a larger size than the information displayed inthe upper area 1602. As shown on the right device 100 of FIG. 16, theenlarged information is centered at or near the cursor 1614 displayed inthe enlargement. Any part of the information may be displayed in theenlargement. The amount by which the display of the information isincreased in size, e.g., the amount of “zoom,” the amount ofmagnification, and so forth, and the number of lines of informationdisplayed may vary from the example of FIG. 16. The amount ofenlargement may be uniform or variable, e.g., information near anindicator or in the same row as an indicator may be enlarged more thanother information. The amount of enlargement may be adjusted in responseto a touch associated with a selection option, a control, a gesture, amenu selection, or any other input.

The indicator 1614 is displayed at a position in the enlargement 1612corresponding to a position of the indicator 1606 in the informationdisplayed in the upper area 1602. The indicator 1614 is displayed at ornear the center of the enlargement 1612 in this example. Alternatively,the enlargement 1612 and the indicator 1614 may be displayed such thatthe indicator 1614 is in another position relative to the enlargement1612, such as at or near the top left corner, or any other position.

To facilitate end of display of the enlargement, a selection option maybe displayed, such as the “ABC” selection option 1616 displayed in thelower area 1604 of the right device 100 in the example of FIG. 16.

When the enlargement is displayed, the electronic device 100 optionallydisplays editing controls. For example, directional options 1618, 1620,1622, 1624 are shown displayed in the lower area 1604 in the example ofFIG. 16. When a touch associated with any of the direction options 1618,1620, 1622, 1624 is detected, the indicator 1614 and the indicator 1606are moved in accordance with the direction associated with the control.In this example, the directional options 1618, 1620, 1622, 1624 areassociated with the directions up, left, right, and down with respect tothe orientation of the text.

As shown in the example of FIG. 17, a touch at a touch location 1702associated with the indicator 1614 is detected, and the indicator 1614is moved in accordance with the touch from the position of the indicator1614 shown on the left device 100 to the position of the touch location1702 on the right device 100. The touch is detected at the touchlocation 1702 between “o” and “r” in the word “for” in this example. Theindicators 1606, 1614 are moved to the corresponding position in theinformation displayed in both areas 1602, 1604. As shown in FIG. 17, thepart of the information displayed in the enlargement changes, such thatthe indicator 1614 remains at or near the center of the enlargement. Inthis example, the information displayed in the enlargement moves to theleft as the indicator 1614 moves to the right to maintain the indicator1614 at or near the center of the enlargement. Alternatively, theinformation may not change based on the movement of the indicator, maybe changed but delayed from movement of the indicator, may be changed inresponse to detecting a touch associated with a control, may be changedin response to detecting movement of a touch associated with theindicator, may be changed to facilitate viewing of other parts of theinformation, and so forth. Moving includes changing the position ofinformation, which movement may or may not be animated to appear asthough the information is moving across the touch-sensitive display 118.

An indicator illustrating highlighting of information is shown in theexample of FIG. 18. Highlighting may be initiated by detection of atouch associated with a selection option, a gesture, selection from amenu, depression of a physical key, movement of a mouse, a touch on aphysical navigation device, a combination of inputs, and so forth. Forexample, editing controls displayed in the lower area 1604 may include aselection option for initiating highlighting or a double tap mayinitiate highlighting. In the example of FIG. 18, when a touchassociated with any of the directional options 1618, 1620, 1622, 1624 isdetected after highlighting is initiated, an end point of thehighlighting moves accordingly. After highlighting is initiated, editingfunctions may be performed such as, copying highlighted information,cutting highlighted information, deleting highlighted information,pasting highlighted information, and so forth. A second editingfunction, such as pasting information, may optionally be performed, forexample, by moving the indicator to the past position as describedabove.

As shown in the example of FIG. 17, controls 1708 and 1710, which may besimilar to controls 1502, 1504 described above, may also be provided.The control 1708 and 1710 may be displayed or not displayed, e.g.,provided in a non-display area. The controls 1708 and 1710 may beprovided in addition to or as an alternative to the selection options1618, 1620, 1622, and 1624.

In the example of FIG. 18, after a double tap in the lower area 1604initiates highlighting, a touch moves from a first touch location 1802along the display to a second location 1804. The first touch location1802 is associated with the first “t” in “tonight” and the second touchlocation 1804 is associated with the second “t” in “tonight” in thisexample. The highlighting is displayed with the information in theenlargement between the two positions in the text, thus highlighting1808 of “tonight” is displayed. Optionally, an indication of the endpoints of the highlighting may be displayed and a visual indication maybe displayed to indicate the end point that is currently beingmanipulated. Highlighting may be displayed in one or both of the areas1602, 1604. In this example, highlighted information 1810 correspondingto highlighted information 1808 from the enlargement is displayed.Highlighting may persist in the area 1602 after display of theenlargement is ended. Additionally or alternatively, the directionaloptions 1618, 1620, 1622, 1624 may persist after display of theenlargement is ended. Alternatively, highlighting may not be displayedin the upper area. Optionally, highlighting 1810 may be displayed whendisplay of the enlargement ends.

Prior to invocation of the enlargement, information may be displayedseamlessly or continuously in both areas 1602, 1604 of the device 100 asshown in the example of FIG. 19. The information may be a singlecontinuous set of information, may be multiple discrete sets ofinformation, and so forth. For example, an email, a webpage, a document,and so forth may be displayed. When the enlargement 1612 is invoked, theenlargement replaces part of the display of the information in thesecond area 1604. Although characters are shown in FIG. 19, theinformation may include images, graphics, symbols, other types ofinformation, and so forth.

Display of the enlargement of information facilitates movement of anindicator through information displayed on a touch-sensitive display,making editing of the information easier. Because the information isdisplayed in a larger size, movement of an indicator through theinformation, such as moving a cursor or highlighting information,facilitates reviewing or editing of the information. The enlargement isadvantageously applied to portable electronic devices, which typicallyinclude relatively small touch-sensitive displays. Selection options maybe provided to invoke display of the enlargement and to indicate end ofdisplay of the enlargement. Additional selection options for editing ormanipulation the information may be provided.

An electronic device comprises a touch-sensitive display and a processoroperably coupled with the touch-sensitive display and configured todisplay information in a first area of a touch-sensitive display of anelectronic device, display an enlargement including at least part of theinformation in a second area outside the first area to replace at leastpart of a virtual keyboard, detect a touch associated with the secondarea, and move a first indicator in the first area and a secondindicator in the second area along with the touch. A method comprisesdisplaying information in a first area of a touch-sensitive display ofan electronic device, displaying an enlargement including at least partof the information in a second area outside the first area to replace atleast part of a virtual keyboard, detecting a touch associated with thesecond area, and moving a first indicator in the first area and a secondindicator in the second area along with the touch. The method may alsoinclude displaying a control in the second area to control the firstindicator and the second indicator. The method may also include changingthe at least part of the information displayed in the enlargement basedon the movement of the second indicator.

The words above, below, upper, lower, up, down, left, and right providea perspective for the drawings and are not otherwise limiting. In thepresent disclosure, an indicator may be at or near the center of an areawhen the indicator is close to the center, is about the center, is awayfrom the center by a character, a line of text, or a word, and so forth.Although touch locations are shown as circles with dashed lines theactual touch locations may be larger or smaller, e.g., a point. Althoughexample locations of the selection options and controls 202, 204, 212,706, 708, 710, 712, 1008, 1010, 1012, 1014, 1016, 1202, 1302, 1402,1404, 1406, 1604, 1608, 1616, 1618, 1620, 1622, 1624, 1708, 1710, andother elements are shown in FIG. 2, FIG. 3, FIG. 4, FIG. 5, FIG. 7, FIG.8, FIG. 10, FIG. 12, FIG. 13, FIG. 14, FIG. 16, FIG. 17, FIG. 18, andFIG. 19, selection options, controls, and other elements may be locatedat any locations such as at the top of a display, at the bottom of adisplay, along a side of the display, in any area of a non-display area,and so forth.

Elements of the examples described herein are interchangeable. Any ofthe elements of the various examples are combinable to the extent thatthe elements are not mutually exclusive or do not conflict.

The present disclosure may be embodied in other specific forms withoutdeparting from its spirit or essential characteristics. The describedembodiments are to be considered in all respects only as illustrativeand not restrictive. The scope of the disclosure is, therefore,indicated by the appended claims rather than by the foregoingdescription. All changes that come within the meaning and range ofequivalency of the claims are to be embraced within their scope.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method comprising: displaying information in afirst area of a touch-sensitive display of an electronic device;displaying an enlargement of at least part of the information in asecond area outside the first area to replace information displayed inthe second area; detecting a touch associated with the second area;moving at least one of a first indicator in the first area and a secondindicator in the second area in accordance with the touch.
 2. The methodaccording to claim 1, wherein the information replaced comprises atleast a part of a virtual keyboard.
 3. The method according to claim 1,wherein the at least part of the information is displayed in the firstarea and the information replaced in the second area comprises a secondpart of the information different than the at least part of theinformation.
 4. The method according to claim 1, comprising displayingat least one selection option in the second area to control the firstindicator and the second indicator.
 5. The method according to claim 4,wherein displaying the at least one selection option comprisesdisplaying at least one horizontal control to control horizontalmovement of the indicator and displaying at least one vertical controlto control vertical movement of the indicator.
 6. The method accordingto claim 1, further comprising changing the at least part of theinformation displayed in the enlargement based on the movement of thesecond indicator.
 7. The method according to claim 1, further comprisingmoving the at least part of the information in an opposite direction ofthe movement of the second indicator to maintain the second indicatornear a center of the enlargement.
 8. The method according to claim 1,further comprising: detecting a gesture in the enlargement; highlightinginformation in the enlargement in response to detecting the gesture. 9.The method according to claim 1, comprising detecting invocation of theenlargement.
 10. The method according to claim 9, wherein detecting theinvocation comprises detecting selection of an option to invoke theenlargement.
 11. The method according to claim 1, further comprisingreplacing the enlargement with a virtual keyboard.
 12. The methodaccording to claim 1, further comprising detecting invocation of avirtual keyboard.
 13. The method according to claim 1, wherein thesecond indicator comprises at least one of a cursor and highlighting.14. The method according to claim 1, wherein the second indicator islarger than the first indicator.
 15. The method according to claim 1,wherein the information comprises characters.
 16. A non-transitorycomputer-readable medium having computer-readable code executable by atleast one processor of a portable electronic device to perform themethod of claim
 1. 17. An electronic device comprising: atouch-sensitive display; a processor coupled to the touch-sensitivedisplay and configured to: display information in a first area of atouch-sensitive display of an electronic device; display an enlargementof at least part of the information in a second area outside the firstarea to replace information displayed in the second area; detect a touchassociated with the second area; move at least one of a first indicatorin the first area and a second indicator in the second area inaccordance with the touch.
 18. The electronic device according to claim17, wherein the enlargement is displayed in response to detectingselection of an option to invoke the enlargement.
 19. The electronicdevice according to claim 17, wherein the information replaced comprisesat least a part of a virtual keyboard.
 20. The electronic deviceaccording to claim 17, wherein the at least part of the information isdisplayed in the first area and the information replaced in the secondarea comprises a second part of the information different than the atleast part of the information.